Blasio Re-elected in NYC

Elections for mayor were held in several cities yesterday in the United States. The most important result was the re-election of Bill de Blasio in New York City, chosen by the vast majority of the voters to govern the city for the second time. He is the first Democratic mayor to be re-elected since Edward Koch, in 1985. Now comes the hard part. Federal budget cuts, especially to social programs, health care and public housing, could cause serious problems and aggravate social ills. He has also been unable to create a working relationship with fellow Democrat Andrew Cuomo, the state governor. He will have to find a way to deliver on his promises, such as accelerating and expanding affordable housing.

Twitter

Twitter announced it was doubling its character limit to 280 for almost all users. This is a major change, in an effort to increase more activity across the social media platform. Just think of some of the effects: Trump will be able to say twice as much in one tweet. “If I wanted to deal with 280 characters, I’d go read Game of Thrones,” was the reaction of one tweeter.

Made in China 2025

Made in China 2025 is Beijing’s ambitious plan to dominate cutting-edge fields like artificial intelligence within a decade. Its tightening grip on the technologies of tomorrow is already changing the rules of global commerce. And as President Trump heads to a meeting with President Xi JinPing, he must be prepared to meet pressure from his Chinese counterpart to recognize China as America’s peer in a new bipolar world.

Self-Driving Cars

The self-driving car is edging closer to reality. Waymo, a unit of Alphabet, Google’s parent, has started testing a fleet without backup drivers on public roads. This is believed to be the first such test. The tests, which will include passengers within the next few months, mark an important milestone that brings autonomous vehicle technology closer to operating without any human intervention.